The Secert Journal of Ronald Weasley
by Phoenix Pendron
Summary: Inspired by Arabella's HQoW this is Ron's journal starting his third year. Please R/R. It's time Ron had his say... (Important update to Author's Notes)
1. New Friends?

Disclaimer: None of the Characters belong to me of course (except Rupert cause I doubt anyone else would want him), they are all BORROWED fro JK Rowling. This story also uses HQoW as partial canon as well. Partial is being awfully optimistic, basically I'm borrowing from her for plot in the same way I'm borrowing from JKR for the Harry Potter universe. If you haven't read Arabella's story you are really missing out.

************************************************************************

December 27

So this is what Hermione calls a Christmas present; a book? Okay I guess this is better than some of the other Christmas presents she could have given me. A book with no writing in it is better than a book full of useless stuff I'd never read… Still she could have gotten me that new Chudley photobook. Who am I kidding, like she knows anything about gifts. Harry got the greatest gift in the world, a FIREBOLT! It's absolutely wicked. But no that stupid git got it taken away just because she thinks Sirius Black may have sent it! Really what's the odds he could walk into a Quidditch shop and buy the greatest broom in the broom with the entire Ministry looking for him. NOT BLOODY LIKELY.

So now I have a journal, thank you Hermione. (How do put sarcasm on paper?) What the hell am I supposed to write in a journal? 

My name is Ronald Weasley. I am thirteen years old, and in my third year at Hogworts. But I knew all of that already. 

**_Hello Ronald Weasley._**__

~*~*~

Hello?

**_Hello. Is this Ronald again? If it's not too much of a bother could I beg you not to slam me shut so abruptly, it smarts a bit. Thank you._**

Who the hell are you!

**_You should end questions with a question mark not an exclamation mark. I am Rupert Pendron, at your service. It is a pleasure to meet you Sir Weasley. _**__

No way. No bloody way that crazy git bought me a thinking journal!

**_"That crazy git" has bought you the top of line magical journal; a personal friend to whom you may confess all of your greatest adventures and who will never tell anyone those secrets which you confide in him. Actually quite remarkable, don't you think?_**

NO. No I don't think it's remarkable I think it bloody ludicrous. I know how these things work! You almost got my sister, and my best friend. BUT YOU WON'T GET ME.

**_I beg pardon sir. I don't know what you're talking about._**__

Don't play dumb! You want me to tell you all about me so you can steal my soul and make me do your evil bidding. I know how to play your game. I ought to burn you out right for what you did to my sister!

**_CEASE and DESIST! I would never do such a thing, even if I knew how. I don't know what you've been told but I have no evil bidding and if I did I think I would find a much nobler wizard to carry them out. You, sir, are shortsighted, short-tempered, and entirely too ignorant to carry on a rational discussion with. I demand you return me to Enchanted Stationers immediately. There you will receive a full refund I assure you. I just can't work under these circumstances. _**__

Wait a minute, there's a whole shop full of books like you?

**_Of course._**__

You're not just here to get in my head?

**_I believe I've already answered that question._**

So what do you do?

**_I am a magic journal. You write in me and I protect your secrets. I've also been known to offer some fairly sage advice once in awhile, and I could tell you stories of adventure that a child of thirteen such as yourself could never dream of. In short I am your personal friend, but not if you continue to talk to me—_**

Yeah right.

**_Excuse me._**__

Just 'cause I'm young doesn't mean I've never had an adventure. I bet I could tell you a thing or two. My best friend is Harry Potter so there.

**_Who?_**

Harry Potter. The-boy-who-lived. Don't tell me you've never heard of him?!?!

**_I'm afraid I haven't. I don't see what's so fantastic about "The-boy-who-lived"; many people find the task of living quite simple. If you're friend has such a hard time with it then that hardly nominates him for any sort of recognition in my opinion._**__

**_Are you there master Weasley?_**

Ron. Call me Ron. I think you and I are going to get along just fine. But I have to go right now, I have to thank Hermione.

~*~*~

Hello?

**_Hello, Master Weasley. That was fast. Are we in any better temperament now?_**

Uh, yeah, I think. Anyway I forgot I wasn't talking to Hermione anymore. So I asked my sister instead. She said that Hermione had one of these journals for years and that she had actually seen where you keep your brain so it was safe.

**_Keep my brain? Oh, you mean Miss Vaulcain's. I don't know why you be so afraid of a simple journal but yes, I am completely safe. _**

My family had a bad experience with a magical journal last year. Ginny also said that Hermione had a password on you hers…?

**_Yes. I was coming to that. Customarily you would have had to do that before your very first entry, but Miss Vaulcain appraised me that I was to be a gift and my recipient may not be aware of proper procedure. You must put it at the beginning of all entries so that I know that it really is you. Without the password I am prohibited from revealing any entries or secrets. Quite a wise decision if I do say so myself. You never know what your enemies may have in store for you if they could get there hands on your secrets. Not that you have many formidable enemies at your age. But it never hurts to be cautious._**

I know all about that already, I have faced dangers before. And I do have some dangerous enemies. Well I don't exactly, but my friend does, and we usually end up in the fight with him. Except when Ginny… but I tried I really did, I wanted to help.

**_I'm afraid I'm confused Sir Ron. But maybe you could explain to me later after we address the issue of the password. _**__

Okay, what does it need to be?

**_Anything._****_ Just a word or phrase that someone isn't likely to guess._**__

Okay… how about… What was that you called me?

**_When?_**

Just a minute ago.

**_Master Weasley?_**

No the other one.

**_Sir Ron?_**

Yeah! That's it. That'll be my password. Sir Ron… I like that, makes me sound brave and noble.

**_Marvelous, sir._****_ I have no doubt that you are, brave and noble that is. _**__

Yeah… So I just write that at the top of each entry, and without it you can't tell any of my secrets?

**_Correct._**__

Wicked. Now I don't have to worry about my sister going through my journal. Not that she would… she doesn't like journals much since… 

**_Sir?_****_ Are you all right?_**

I'm fine. I just still feel a little guilty about keeping you. My mum and dad wouldn't like it that's for sure, and Ginny would go nuts, probably start crying and stuff if she knew I had a journal. So let's just keep this between us, okay.

**_Of course sir._****_ But whom would I talk to besides you._**__

Good point. But if anyone starts to write to you, just don't answer back, then they won't know you're here. 

**_Whatever you wish, sir. But I confess I still don't understand._**__

Don't worry about it. I'll tell you about it some other time. I have to go right now anyway, it's time for dinner. 


	2. Introductions

                              
  


December 29

Oy, Rupert, you there?

Hello…!!! OH YEAH, 

**SIR RON**

**_Thank you, Master Weasley. From now on we will try and remember that before we start hollering won't we?_**__

Yeah I'll try. Anyway, I'm bored stiff, so I thought I'd look into this journal thing a little more. Harry's pouting over the loss of his Firebolt, who could blame him, and Hermione… nevermind, who cares what she's doing. 

**_I see._**__

So what do people do with these things anyway?

**_Typically one uses a journal to record their thoughts, feelings, activites; do you really not know how to use a journal?_**__

Hey, gimme a break, this is the first time I've had one of these things. Okay, well we can skip the mushy stuffy about feelings and such. 

**_Well then I guess since this is your first journal we could start with you telling me a little something about yourself. Who are you Sir Ronald Weasley?_**

That sounds easy enough. Well, I already told you I'm a third year at Hogworts. You do know what Hogworts is don't you?

**_Yes sir, a very fine institution. The very best in _****_Britain_****_ for turning young witches and wizard into the fine magical citizen they should be._**

Right. Well I come from a whole family of wizards. I have five older brothers and one younger sister. There Bill and Charlie, they're the oldest they've already left school. Bill lives out in Egypt, he's a curse-breaker for Gringotts. Charlie works with dragons in Romania. Then there's Percy, he's a seventh year, and he made Head Boy this year so he's been acting even more pompous than ever; it's unbearable. Next is Fred and Geroge, they're twins. They're real jokester, everybody loves them, they're in fifth year. And my younger sister, Ginny, she's a second year.

**_Yes, the young lass who had the unfortunate incident with the foul journal. Is that all?_**

****

Yeah pretty much, well we're poor. Dirt poor and that bites, but not much I can do about. 

**_You miss my meaning, young sir. I now have a basic understand of you siblings but you have yet to tell me anything about yourself. Is there anything that YOU are particularly interested in?_**

****

Yeah, I love Quidditch. You do know what Quidditch is don't you?

**_Yes, sir. I seem to remember it being a rather exciting sport. Do you play?_**

Well… no, not really. I play at home with my brother and Ginny, but I don't play for a house team, not yet at least. I think I'm going to go out for the team next year though. Harry's on the team though, he's our Seeker. He's the youngest Seeker in a century. He's totally wicked, we haven't lost yet when he was playing… well except that one… We lost to Hufflepuff just before Christmas, but it wasn't his fault. We were robbed. I can't even talk about it, it's too painful.

**_I'm very sorry sir, but I'm sure that you will prove yourselves next time. _**

I hope so. Oliver Wood (oh he's the team captain) he may eat his broom if we don't win next time. This is his last year and he's really desperate to win the cup this year, especially since we've come so close the last couple of years. 

**_I thought you said you hadn't lost a game since your friend had begun playing for your team? And you haven't won the cup yet?_**

Well, no. Other than this last one we've won every game Harry's played in, but he hasn't played in every game.

**_Why not? _**

Trouble has a way of finding Harry, and so he's actually missed a few games the last couple years because he was in the hospital wing.

**_Ah, a trouble maker. Sir, are you sure it's wise to associate yourself with that type of chap? _**

Harry's NOT a trouble maker. I said trouble has a way of finding him, he doesn't go looking for it. 

**_I see… _**

Look, it's Harry Potter, of course stuff is going to happen to him. It's not like he's Ronald Weasley, king of the dull.

**_Sir—_**

~*~*~

January 2

**SIR RON**

Rupert? You there?

**_I'm not sure. Is there another slamming involved if I am?_**

****

Right, sorry about that. I just got carried away a bit. 

**_Quite alright, sir._****_ But may I ask what brought on that… outburst?_**

Nothing. It's just that stuff always does happen to Harry, it's part of being famous. Unlike me on the other hand… 

**Oh yes the chap who has managed to survive the terrible fate of being alive. I still don't understand the fame involoved in a young boy who has somehow accomplished the miraculous feat of being thirteen, really…**

There a bit more to it than that.

****

**_Please tell me, because as it stands I am quite underwhlemed by this character, young Mr. Harry Potter. _**

Do I have to?

**_Excuse me? _**

Do I have to tell you? I know it sounds stupid but I kinda like the fact that you don't know who Harry is. Pretty dense, huh?

**_Master Weasley, are you alright sir? I don't know if it would help of not but no matter what you tell me about this chap, I could never think less of you sir. But if you do not wish to record it, that too is perfectly acceptable; it is YOUR journal. _**

**_What shall we talk about then, sir? How about some more Quidditch? Or is there another sport you fancy as—_**

No. No, I'll tell you about Harry. 

**_Are you sure sir?_**

Yeah, of course I'm sure. He's my best friend why should I not want to tell you about him…

I met him on the train to school before our first year. I've known who he was my entire life, so it was a real shock to actually meet him and get to sit with him on the train. Everybody knows who Harry Potter is, he's the one who defeated the Dark Lord.

**_Who?_**

You-Know-Who.

**_Actually I'm afraid I don't…_**

He-Who-Must-NOT-Be-Named?

****

**_Well that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! _**

You don't understand! He was the most evil wizard in a century, real powerful and real smart. Nobody knew who was working for him and who wasn't. My Mum and Dad used to tell us stories about how bad it was. It was scary, okay. And I refuse to say his name, especially now that I know that he's out there somewhere… in one form or another.

**_Let me see if I understand this. There was a Dark Lord._**

Yes.

****

**_Who was so powerful and so evil that people are too afraid to say his name._**

****

Yes.

**_And your friend Harry Potter defeated him._**

Yes.

****

**_He did this before you meet him your first year._**

Yes.

**_So he did this when he was younger than thirteen?_**

Yes

**_No. _**

What do you mean No?

**_I don't believe it_**

You have to believe it, it's the truth!

**_Then how old was he exactly when he defeated "You-Know-Who"?_**

Which time?

**_WHICH TIME?!?! You mean to say he's defeated him more than once?_**

Well, yeah. Three times more or less. The first time he was one year old. 

**_ENOUGH! Sir, what kind of a fool do you take me for? You want me to believe that a one-year old child defeated a dark wizard so powerful that grown wizard refuse to speak his name? Impossible. And that he has gone on to fight and defeat this foe two more times in the last twelve years? Unbelievable._**

It's the truth! And actually he fought him the other two times in the last two years. The first time he was just a spirit living inside the body of our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The second time was when You-Know-Who tried to steal my sister's soul, and he fought him as a boy about Percy's age, but he still almost killed him. If it hadn't been for Professor Dumbledore's pet Phoenix he would have died. No one really knows how he defeated him the first time. Harry doesn't talk about it much but it he said it had something to do with some ancient magic his Mum did for him when she died, he's still got this wicked scar from where the curse rebounded. 

**_…….._**

You still don't believe me do you?

**_You must admit sir, it's a bit much to swallow._**

Look I was there, not the first time, when his Mum and Dad died, of course. But I was the other times, in a manner of speaking

****

**_You were there?!?!_**

Yeah.

**_And you weren't scared?_**

Well, of course not. I mean it had to be done didn't it.

**_But by a pair of thirteen year old wizards?!?!_**

Hermione was there too, the first time. Last year she couldn't go with us to save Ginny because she was petrified in the hospital wing by that Basilkill snake thing.

****

**_A BASILISK! You faced a basilisk? With or without that young lady I hardly see how that could make things any better._**

Well she the smartest witch in our year. But she still can't play wizard's chess; I beat her every time. That's why I had to play against the set on the way to the Socerer's Stone. 

**_THE Socerer's Stone! It was guarded by a chess set?_**

Well it was a fifty-foot tall chess set, and we had to be actual pieces in the game.

**_In WIZARD's chess?!?!_**__

Yeah. You should have seen her, she can be such a girl sometimes. I had to sacrifice myself so that Harry could get checkmate, and she went to pieces. She was crying, such a baby.

**_You sacrificed yourself in a game of wizard's chess so that your friend could advance?_**

Yeah. Are you having a hard time reading or something? You keep repeating everything. 

**_Young Master Weasley you will have to forgive me._**

For what?

**_Many things: for at first not believing that a boy your age had had adventures, for not believing what you had to say about you friend Harry, and lastly for being absolutely speechless at the things you've told me. I bow to you sire, you are truly worth of the name Sir Ronald Weasley, for you are one of the bravest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing._**

ME?

**_Of course._****__**

No, Harry's the brave one. I just happen to be with him.

**_I think not sir! Facing a basilisk head-on for the love of a sister, and sacrificing yourself on a field of battle for the sake of friend and a noble cause…. You, sir, amaze me._**

Uhm… Thanks, I think. Yeah well, I gotta go. Thanks Rupert.

**_No sir, thank you. And you must promise to tell me more about these daring deeds at a later time._**

Sure. Bye.

**_Goodnight, noble sir._**


	3. The Sirius Issue

  
  


January 8

I can't stand Hermione Granger! Stupid know-it-all twit! Oh, sorry…

**SIR RON**

Anyway, I wish she would just mind her own business and stop acting like she cares about me and Harry. If she really cared she wouldn't have gotten his Firebolt taken away, now would she? Harry's really pissed too but of course he won't say anything, I wish he would quit being so bloody noble all the time!

**_I do hate to interrupt Master Weasley, when you are having such an extraordinary rant… But what on earth is a "Firebolt" and what has Miss Granger done to have it taken away?_**

What is a Firebolt?!?! Only the greatest racing broom on the face of the planet! It can reach 150 miles an hour in 10 seconds, it's got a perfectly balanced ash handle and all of it twigs are clip to be perfectly aerodynamic. It's super wicked and Harry actually got one for Christmas!

**_Sounds fantastic sir._****__**

It's better than that. But apparently it's "too good to be true". So Hermione goes and spouts off about it to Professor McGonagall and she gets it taken away!

**_Is it possible that this is an act of subterfuge against your team?_**

You'd think wouldn't you? But, no, Hermione is a Gryffindor too…

**_Well what does the lass have to say for herself on this charge?_**

She says that she thinks it was sent to Harry by Sirius Black. How ridiculous is that? The Ministry is tearing apart the countryside looking for him, it's not very likely he could just stroll into a Quidditch store and buy a racing broom. In fact it's down right impossible!

**_I'm sorry sir, but I seem to be missing something again, who is Sirius Black?_**

Man, Rupert, you really don't know much do you?

**I'd like to think I do, young sir. It's just that being dead for a couple hundred years tends to make a person a bit behind the times if you don't mind.**

Oh, sorry. No offense Rupert.

**_None taken sir, I'm just trying to bring myself up-to-date, so that I can be of better use to you._**

Yeah, whatever. Anyway back to Sirius Black. He's this really nasty wizard. He was supposedly You-Know-Who's right-hand man. But he was working undercover, and when He was destroyed, Black went nuts. He killed 13 people in broad daylight, blasted them apart with one curse. It was a square full of Muggles and one wizard who had hunted him down, all they ever found of the wizard was his FINGER! 

**_Oh, dear me. But I thought that all of that happen years ago?_**

It did. And ever since then he's been locked away in Azkaban. But he escaped…

****

**_ESCAPED! From Azkaban? In my day that fortress was impenetrable. It was guarded by these horrible creatures called Dementors. Oh, my dear boy, pray you never come across one of those foul creatures._**

Too late. They're here at the school.

**_WHAT! They allowed those hell-born creatures near students! How is that possible!_**

Rupert, you should end a question with a question mark, not an exclamation mark.

**_Touché, sir._****_ But please tell me why on earth anyone in their right mind would let those foul beasts within a hundred miles of children?_**

Because they're looking for Black. They think he'd be coming here. 

**_But why?_****_ What would a murder want with children?_**

Not children, one child. Harry to be specific.

**_Harry? As in your friend Harry? Oh dear. Are you safe sir?_**

Of course were safe here in the school. Well except when he tried to break into the tower—

**_INTO THE TOWER! You mean he has been inside the school?!?!_**

Yeah, back at Halloween. He ripped up the portrait entrance to the Gryffindor common room, but to honest that's not what I'm scared of.

**_You have nerves of steel, master Weasley if that doesn't concern you. But what then?_**

It does bother me a little… Harry's not scared though, I figure it anyone should be it would be him. Anyway, right before Christmas we snuck Harry into Hogsmeade. He needed to get out of the school and he was perfectly safe with me and Hermione. Anyway we were at the Three Broomsticks and we sorta overheard something we were supposed to…

**_I don't like the sound of this Sir Ron… _**

Story goes like this: Harry's Mum and Dad knew they were being hunted long before You-Know-Who ever ended up at their front door. So they performed this really complicated spell to keep themselves safe, called a Fidelus Charm. The way I understand it they hid the secret of their location inside another soul. That way, the only way He could find them was if the other person told. But what Harry's folks didn't know was that their secret keeper was actually working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—

**_Not this Black fellow! _**

Way to spoil it. Yes, Black, Sirius Black. Apparently he and James Potter, Harry's Dad, were best friends in school. It gets worse though… 

**_How is that possible? _**

Shut up and I'll tell you. You know sometimes you can be worse than talking to Hermione. Well not only was he James Potter's best friend, he's also Harry's godfather. 

**_Oh no…_**

****

Yep. And to tell you the truth Rupert, that's what scares me. Not that Black is out there and he's hunting for Harry, but that now that Harry knows why he may go looking for Black.

**_He wouldn't!_**

****

I used to think that too, but you should have seen him. I've never seen him that mad before and it chilled me straight to the bone. It's not like when my Mum gets mad for something stupid I've done, or when Hermione gets mad for one stupid reason or another (I never could understand her). This was different, it was like he was a completely different person than my friend. He was cold and far away, completely irrational. He was ready to go tell off our friend Hagrid for not telling before. To be honest I don't blame Hagrid for keeping quiet, there are something better left unsaid, and this is probably one of them. I can't imagine what it must be like for him, growing up without a family and all, but to know that he lost his family to the one person who they really trusted, trusted enough to make his godfather…. That would be unbearable.

**Watch him close Master Weasley. I don't like the sound of any of this. Please keep in touch. I would hate for anything to happen to you. **

Don't get all mushy on me Rupert, you sound like a girl. And I will watch out for him. Speaking of which I'm gonna go see if I can cheer him up about his Firebolt.

**_God speed, good sir._**


	4. Dementors

January 13

**SIR RON **

Have I mentioned that I truly cannot stand Hermione Granger?

**_I seem remember hearing something like that, sir. _**

Good. I just wanted it to be truly clear that she is absolutely untolerable. 

**_Crystal clear, Master Weasley. _**

**_Ah…sir?_**

Yeah Rupert?

**_The last time you mentioned the lass it was because of a particularly fine broom… has she committed any new atrocities?_**

Well… no. Not really. Even though it's been THREE WEEKS since they took Harry's Firebolt and no one seen hide nor hair of it. McGonagall lit into Wood when he tried to talk to her about it. Oh, Rupert, I can only imagine what they're doing to that broom. Two weeks of "stripping it down". It makes my stomach heave just thinking about it. By the time Harry gets it back it probably won't be any better than my broom, and Charlie absolutely wore it out when he was here. It's a crime! And Hermione Granger is the one responsible. I swear if the reverse so much as hiccups when Harry gets it back I'm gonna… I'll just…

**_Yes…? _**

Well I don't know what I'll do but it will be bad I promise you that much. You know what really gets me is her attitude. Not only does she not feel sorry for getting the Firebolt taken away, she acts like we should _thank_ her for it. Like she only trying to protect Harry or something. 

**_Is it possible that truly is her purpose? _**

HEY, whose side are you on? Besides how can she be helping Harry when she the one who's practically driven him to a nervous fit over the broom. If she was really his friend she would understand this was the last thing he needed right now. Oh, and another thing… you know what that snobbish little twit did the other day to get us to talk to her?

**_How could I sir? I only know what you tell me? _**

Rupert, couldn't you just play along every once in awhile?

**_Sorry sir, I will try to do better._**

Nevermind. Anyway, Harry and I were talking the other day about one of our professors who seems to get sick a lot and she went off acting like she knew something we didn't. Please, do I have "stupid git" written on my forehead? There's no way I'm going to fall for that one. So Professor Lupin gets sick a lot, he still the coolest DADA teacher we've ever had, she just jealous that he's giving Harry extra lessons and not her, she can't stand to think someone may know more than her. 

**_Extra lesson?_****_ Is Mr. Potter having trouble keeping up with his studies? Maybe you should offer to tutor him?_**

Tutor? Me? Uh… I would, of course, but that's not the kind of help he needs. He said Professor Lupin was going to help him fight the Dementors, some sort of special lesson; that's where he is right now.

**_Fight Dementors! Young Sir, you promised me you would keep an eye on him and not let him go looking for trouble! What could possess him to wish to fight those demons of the night?_**

Quit being so dramatic. Harry's not looking to fight the Dementors. To be honest I think he's more afraid of them than the rest of us. It's just… you remember the game I told you about, the one where we got robbed?

**_Yes, sir._**

Well it was because the Dementors actually came onto the field. Professor Lupin is teaching him to fight them in case it happens again… Next time he might not be so lucky…

I really don't want to talk about it. So is it okay if we just drop it, alright? 

**_Perfectly alright, young master. _**

**_Err… Sir Weasley… I was thinking… I don't mean to be rude… But if I may be so bold… _**

What Rupert? Spit it out.

**_Well I'm not sure if you fully understand the purpose of a journal. I'm not like your other friends, sire—_**

That's an understatement.

**_You miss my meaning again. You see the things that you might not feel like talking about to your other friends, such as Mr. Potter… you can tell me._**

Who said that there anything I can't tell Harry? We tell each other everything! And anyway, I've had you for less than a month, he's been my friend through thick and thin (and I mean very thick and very thin) for almost three years. Why should I trust you more than him? Besides you didn't even believe me before when I was telling you stuff. 

**_Once again please allow me to apologize profusely for that grave underestimation of your character sir, I will be forever sorry. But the fact remains that a journal's sole purpose is to record the events, no matter how trivial, in your life, and to be an open ear for you to perhaps sort out your thoughts. If you do not feel you can trust me with these duties then I feel that I have let you down in someway._**

God, Rupert, you sound like a girl. Feelings, feelings, feelings. Maybe I don't think about all of that stuff, maybe I have more important things on my mind?

**_Maybe you're afraid that that's when you'll be in danger from me? _**

I NEVER SAID THAT! 

Where would you get that? Unless there's something you're not telling me… should I be worried?

**_I spoke with Madam Vaulcain. She informed me that the only way a journal could do the things you imply happen to your sister is if someone truly opened up their very deepest feelings to it; and if the journal was properly charmed for that type of evil bidding (which I assure you sir I am NOT). Perhaps you are afraid if you tell me the more intimate details of you thoughts… that I would somehow betray you. _**

****

Look, don't get offend. You said it not me. But, yeah, maybe that's part of it. You seem like a nice enough guy and all, but really what's the point in taking the risk, you know? 

**_Sir— _**

I'm sorry I gotta go….

~*~*~*~

**SIR RON**

Hey, Rupert, you there?

**_Where else would I be sir? _**

Uhm… look I wanted to apologize, for earlier—

**_Don't say another word about it Master Weasley. It was entirely my fault. I far overstepped my bounds. It was rude, uncalled for, and totally inapporiate. If you could find it in your heart to forgive me sir I would be eternally grateful. I just couldn't bear it if you stopped speaking to me all together, so I will be content with whatever you choose to share with me. With all that I am I swear to you that it will never happen ag—_**

OY! For once would you just shut up for a minute?

**_Sorry, sir._**

Thank you. Look I was thinking about what you said earlier….

**_Oh, sir— _**

I said shut up! 

**_Sorry._**

I'm not mad at you. I was, but I'm not now. Well I wasn't even really mad, I don't think. I was… frustrated. No one really ever ask what I think. I mean in my house actions always spoke louder than words, usually because there's always so much going on with many of us. And even if it weren't that, it's really hard to just sit and think at home; what with all the explosions and such from Fred and George's room, or someone always coming in to give me clean laundry or take the dirty laundry, or Ginny wanting me to come play, or Mom wanting me to degnome the garden, or Dad wanting to show some new Muggle gadget he got… 

**_Sounds frustrating, sir._**

…Or some really annoying journal, that just doesn't know when to be quiet, intrupting my thoughts…

**_Point taken sir._**__

But it's not just all that. I was trying to figure what the hell you meant by "stuff that I might need to sort out", and it struck me as really odd. I mean, what do I have to "sort out". My life's so boring why should it require any sort of thought at all, to most people I'm just "another Weasley" or "Harry Potter's friend". At the same time, I was thinking that maybe I have done so pretty cool stuff (most of which I NEVER want to do again… ask me later about Aragog) and that there _is_ some stuff going on in my life. So if you'll help me I guess I will try my hand at this feelings stuff, even though it does seem a little girly for my taste.

**_Sir, may I? _**

Yeah, Rupert, go ahead.

****

**_Well sir, you don't need my help. I seems to me that you are very good at reflection on your own…_**

Really? You mean that's all there is to it? That doesn't seem so bad.

**_No, sir._******

Can I ask you something?

**_By all means! Please do._**

… What do you know about the Dementors?

**_Oh, sir, they are foul creature the likes of which can be found nowhere else on the planet, thank the stars. Their very presence is enough to rob a man of all the things for which life is worth living. There can be no happiness when they are near only the worst parts of your life to recall; sadness, grief, guilt—_**

The sound of your Mum and Dad being killed…

**_What! _**

Harry… that's what he said he hears whenever the Dementors get close to him. That's why Professor Lupin is giving him those special lessons. He told us about it back at Christmas, right after we found out about Black. I can't imagine what it might be like to hear something like that, no wonder he faints.

****

**_The poor boy faints?_**

Yeah. The first time was on the train to school. The Dementors stopped it before we got here, to do a check or something. It was the creepiest thing. The train stopped and all the lights went out. Suddenly one of them came to our door and everything went cold. It was dark, but not like the dark when the lights go out, more like dark from the inside. It felt like I'd never be happy again. I didn't tell anyone else this… but all I could think about was when I almost lost Ginny last year. I kept thinking she was dead, and it was my fault because I didn't pay attention to her; didn't see the signs. I felt so helpless… so useless. Yet somehow I knew that it wasn't true, in that small part of my mind; like a dark corner you can't quite see but you know it there. It couldn't be because she was sitting right beside me, shaking like a leaf. I don't even want imagine what she was thinking about. 

But across from me Harry was sitting. He went real white, almost like if I looked hard enough I could see through him. When the thing made a move to come through the door his eyes rolled up in his head and he just fell out of his seat, he didn't even try to catch himself or anything, he just fell. I can still see it in slow motion in my mind. I reached out to catch him, but it was like moving through water, the air was almost heavy with sadness and I couldn't get to him. So instead I just kinda sank down to my knees and watched him moaning and twitching, thinking he was dying. It felt like it went on forever, but really it was just a moment before Professor Lupin shooed it away, somehow. When he woke up he asked who was screaming… at the time I thought he had just had a really bad dream when he had been uncoinsious, at least that's what I wanted to think. Now, I guess he was hearing that night, when his family was killed. I mean, thank the stars for small favors that he was too young to remember it, but now he has to hear it? **It's just not fair!**

**_Young sir, no one ever said that life is fair. It is our ability to deal with these injustices, no matter how large or how small, that makes us who we are. It sounds as though your friend has had more than his share of wrongs in his short life, but I feel he has also had a great helping of favors; if only to able to count you as his friend._**

BUT I WAS USELESS! I wanted to, but there was nothing I could do, I was helpless… just like at the Quidditch match…

**_But what happen at the match, sir? _**

The same thing… except that time… I really did think he was dead. For one terrible moment I thought I had lost my best friend. I thought that Harry had died and all I did was sit there… and watch.

**_He almost died? In the match? _**

Yeah, I told you we lost because the Dementors came. And Harry passes out whenever they get too near him, and there was more than just one this time. So he fainted, except from fifty feet in the air. He just fell straight out of the sky like a stone, hand still reaching for the snitch. I didn't even realize what was happening until it was all over. Our Headmaster caught him magically in mid-air and slowed him down a bit, then chased off the Dementors and brought him to the hospital wing. At first I didn't realize Dumbledore had slowed him down, I thought I was seeing it in slow motion, like some sort of sick dream. I thought, "there's no way anyone can survive a fall from that height, not even Harry Potter; but he has to… he just has to!" And then I just sat there like an idiot watching him lay on the ground not moving. Hermione was sitting next to me, she was crying and grabbing my arm in this vice grip, but I couldn't feel it, I couldn't feel anything… When Dumbledore took him off towards the castle I started chasing him, not really so much to see him… It was almost like I wanted him to stay there, on the field, and then just wake up and move. Somehow watching Dumbledore carry him away on a stretcher was what made it real, that I couldn't just wake up and it be a dream… 

So how's that for being such an extraordinary friend. Here he is, laying dead for all I know, and what do I do? NOTHING! I look at him and just hope he moves, hope that one of wakes up! That's useless, and that's what I am—

**_STOP! Sir, the way you felt does not make you useless. It makes you human, that is all._**

Whatever it makes me, I won't let it happen again. That moment, thinking Harry was dead, was probably one of the scariest in my life. Because after seeing those Dementors there and knowing what they did to him on the train… I didn't think there was any way that I could NOT lose him. 

I've never had a friend like Harry before, and I probably never will. There aren't many people out there like him. I promise you this Rupert, I won't ever be useless again. I'll never let him go down with out a fight.

**_There is a shortage of men like yourself in this world young master. Take care that in protecting your friend you do all slight us of the one that already exsist._**

Are you still speaking English?

**_Be careful, sir. That is all I ask._**

I will. 

You know maybe there's something to this journal thing after all. I feel… lighter. That's weird? 

Well g'nite Rupert.

**_Good night noble sir._**


	5. Gains and Losses

February 4

SHE'S GIVING IT BACK!!!!!

**SIR RON**, sorry I keep forgetting that. 

Anyway, McGonagall was just here. And she had Harry's Firebolt with her! He's still in his lesson with Professor Lupin so I have to wait at least fifteen more minutes before I go find him… I had to tell someone! Do you realize how we are going to STOMP Ravenclaw? They won't have a chance with Harry on that broom!

**_Oh, bully! That's wonderful news, sir._**__

Yeah! And they didn't find a single thing wrong with it! That's a relief…

****

**_Master Weasley, forgive me, but it seems as though you are relieved that there was nothing wrong with Mr. Potter's broom._**

Of course I'm relieved. What do you think, that I want him flying on a jinxed Firebolt?

**_Well of course not sir. But your relief implies in a way that you were at one point concerned…_**

So… maybe I was, just a little.

**_Then is it possible, dear sir, that perhaps Miss Granger wasn't so terribly in the wrong for at least having it checked?_**

Bloody hell, Rupert! Whose side are you on, seriously. Okay, fine, maybe it was okay that she got it looked over by a teacher. But she still didn't have to go behind our, I mean Harry's back about it.

**_Perhaps not sir._****_ But perhaps she was just overly stress by the activies surrounding your young friend as of late._**

Why are you pleading her case so bad?

**_Well, my noble Master Weasley, it's only that she really does seem to have a good heart— _**

Wait! How do you know that?!?! Are you going behind my back—

**_Never sir! On my honor I would never talk to anyone besides you about the things you confide here. It's just that I had a small conversation with Miss Granger at the Enchanted Stationers. She is the one who selected me to be your journal, and seemed like a quite fine young lady._**

Bloody hell! So you have been talking to her behind my back.

**_I swear to you sir, that was before I ever knew you. If it wasn't for her I might never of had such a fine, upstanding, noble Master to be in the service of—_**

Okay, okay. You can quit kissing up, Rupert, it does suit you. Fine, maybe Hermione's not that bad. And maybe she did rat out the Firebolt out of honest concern. But I'll tell you one thing, it wasn't from the stress of whatever's been happening to Harry… No there's something else going on with her, I just haven't figured it out yet. 

But that'll have to wait 'til later. Right now I have to go find Harry and tell him McGonagall's ready to give his broom back. Maybe he'll let me ride it! That would be wicked! 

Later Rupert! I'll tell you how it rides.

**_Until the next time, dear sir— _**

~*~*~*~

**SIR RON **

**_Sir, I hate to be a stiff, and I realize you were excited and all, but please, the slamming—_**

He's dead.

**_Oh dear lord! What happen! Oh no, it wasn't Sirius— _**

NOT HARRY! Scabbers, my rat … 

**_Oh dear. _**

I spent the last twenty minutes calling her every name I could think of, but now…

**_Sir?_******

What.

**_I'm dreadfully sorry, sir. But didn't you just say Scabbers was a him? _**

Yeah. So?

**_Well then… Who is "she" that you've been calling names? _**

HERMIONE!

**_Ah, I see._**

About time.

**_Actually… no, no sir, I don't see. What does Miss Granger have to do with anything? _**

IT'S HER FAULT HE'S DEAD!

**_Miss Granger? That's just awful sir! I mean I know you were mad at her, but that's no reason for her to take it out on your pet. After all you were justified in being perturbed by the broom incident, but to take it out on poor Scabbers, in the prime of his life, well that's just barbaric!_**

Damn it Rupert! ARGH! First of all, she didn't do it because I was mad at her… her cat did it. He's had it out for Scabbers from the very beginning. And secondly, he wasn't in the prime of his life. He was a hand-down from Percy, like everything else in my life…

**_Oh… _**

She still won't even admit that her fleabag did it either! I mean what more proof does she need? That beast is violent, evil, and hated my rat. Scabbers' blood was all over my sheets. And practically a carpet of cat hairs on the floor. There's only one cat in the whole castle that's that ugly orange color! All of that and she still won't admit that he did it, shows how smart she is.

**_I understand that you must be angry sir… _**

I am angry. But more than anything I feel… drained. I mean I know Scabbers was old, and fat, and lazy, and already sick, and I never really liked him that much to begin with… but he was still mine. Sure he was a hand-down from my brother, but what of mine isn't a hand-down from someone else? You know that rat has slept on my bed with me for the last seven years, ever since Percy's first year at Hogworts. He didn't want him anymore then because he didn't think it was very cool to have a rat as a pet. He wanted something that stood out, something special. So finally my parents got him an owl for making prefect. How stupid? I mean Scabbers had been a perfectly good pet to him for five years, and then he just cast him aside because he wasn't anything extraordinary. I loved that rat. He still wasn't anything spectacular, but then again neither am I. He was just a common rat like a million others in the world. And I'm just another Weasley like so many others around here. I always promised that I would take care of him even when my brothers looked over him because he wasn't Head Boy or Quidditch captain or incredibly funny or—

**_Uh, sir, are we still talking about the rat? _**

Of course we are! What else would we be talking about? I'm really going to miss him. Fred said that we should just go to the village and replace him. What makes him think that people, I mean pets… What makes him think pets are that easy to replace? He didn't love him like I did.

**_We shall mourn the loss, Master Weasley. In honor of brave Scabbers… _**

****

Yeah…

**_Sir why don't you try and get some sleep._****_ Maybe you'll feel better in the morning. Perhaps then you could help Mr. Potter get ready for that big game, I'm sure he's going to need lots of practice getting used to that fine broom, now that he has it back._**

That's not a bad idea.

G'nite Rupert

**_Goodnight, Lord Weasley. I shall pray to the four winds for happier days ahead._**


	6. Life's little victories

February 7 

**SIR RON!**

Rupert! Rupert! Are you there? Answer me!

**_Sir, I am here, no need to shout. Good gracias my dear boy! Is something the matter? _**

No. Everything is great! I told you we'd clobber them and we did! Oh you should have seen it Rupert, Harry was just this big red streak in the sky. It was so wicked. Ravenclaw never stood a chance with him on that Firebolt. 

**_Excellent, sir! So, do tell, what was the final score?_**

230 to 30! We flattened them! 

**_Well done, sir! Please give my congratulation to young Mr. Potter and team on a grand victory._**

Will do. But, Rupert, that wasn't the best part…

**_What, sir, could be better than such a excellent match?_**

Malfoy.

**_What?_**

Argh! DRACO MALFOY! 

**_Sorry, sir, I'm still not familiar with it._**

It is a him, even though were not entirely sure about that. Anyway he's this prat in our year. He's a Slytherin, puke, and he absolutely HATES me and Harry. But that's okay because the feeling is mutual. My Dad's told me that his father was involved in a lot of the stuff that You-Know-Who did, right in his inner circle and all. The way Malfoy acts sometimes, well you know what they say, "like father like son." 

**_Sounds that a rather detestable human being, Master Weasley._**

I'm not sure if he's worth of such praise.

**_That wasn't meant as praise, sire._**

I meant the part about him being a human being, I'm not sure if he's even that. Besides you should hear some of the stuff he calls me just because my family is poor… You know Rupert sometimes I think my family is a hundred times richer than his is, just because we have each other. You should also hear some of the stuff he calls Herminone, one of these days he's going to say something and I'm going to hex him so far he'll forget what a wand is! 

**_Are we back on speaking terms with Miss Granger, then?_**

NO! She still won't admit she was wrong. You're getting me off track. 

ANYWAY… It was at the end of the game, right? Harry's heading towards the snitch and his broom is stripping the Ravenclaw Seeker by a mile. All of a sudden these three figures in black hoods walk out onto the field. When I saw them I swear my heart stopped in my chest. But remember I told you I wasn't going to let it happen to him again…

**_OH NO! The Dementors! Sir, please tell me you did nothing rash or foolish, those creatures are not to be messed with._**

OY! Would you hush Rupert, I'm trying to tell a story here! 

So anyway I see them and I panic. So I tear out of my seat and I'm headed down the stands when this big silver thing comes racing out of the sky! I look up just in time to see Harry grab the snitch in one hand with his wand in the other. 

**_dear_****_ me…._**

What? You don't think that's great that must have been what Harry and Professor Lupin were working on all this time! But that's not the best part. After seeing that without thinking I rushed out on to the field to congratulate him, I was the first one there because I was already halfway down the stairs. And we're standing there cheering when Professor Lupin comes over and says something to Harry and starts to lead him away. You are never going to believe what he showed us!

Well…. Aren't you going to guess or make one of your usual comments? 

**_Sorry sir, I'm a bit speechless at the moment, please continue._**

Fine. DRACO MALFOY! He was laying there on the ground with a bunch of his cronies! They had tried to scare Harry with that stupid Dementor act and he had knocked the stuffing out of them with that trick Lupin taught him. It was GREAT! McGonagall was so mad I thought SHE was going to curse them all on the stop. Oh man, it was hilarious.

**_Phenomenal, sir._**

**_Sir, do you realize what happen today?_**

Yeah, Malfoy got what was coming. He looked like a total prat! That'll teach him to mess with Harry.

**_No, sir._****_ I mean the spell that Mr. Potter cast._**

Oh, well, no. I figure that's what him and Lupin were talking about but I never thought to ask. Why?

**_It's called a Patronus, sire. The Dementors have been around for as long as time itself, but no way has ever been found to destroy them. Yet, long ago a method was developed to contain them, to block their effects you could say. It's called a Partonus and it uses a wizard's happiest memories to counter the darkness invoked by the Dementors. _**

Wicked.

**_Yes, sir, it is incredible magic. But it's also very advanced. Practically speaking there should be no way that someone as young as you and your friend should be able to master it. _**

…. Harry's always been good at those sorts of things. Hermione's always telling him that he's a great wizard…

**_Sir, just one question._****_ How good a Patronus was it? Did it have a recognizable shape?_**

Shape?

**_Yes sir, a fully developed Patronus will reflect the shape of something that symbolizes the happy feelings that helped create it. Each one is different for each person, and you can't really control what shape your own Patronus will become._**

Uh, well his looked like a horse sort of thing. It all happen so fast I didn't get a real good look at it, but if I had to guess I'd say it was unicorn. I guess that kinda fits, doesn't it.

**_How so?_**

Well Unicorns are really powerful magical beast right, and Harry's really powerful too, or else he couldn't even have produced it. And unicorn's are known for being pure, noble animals, and Harry's sort of all that too. He can be so bloody noble that sometimes it aggervating. The other thing is that unicorns are really hard to get close to… and sometimes he can be like that too. I realize a lot has happen to Harry, but I'm still his best friend. I think he doesn't tell me sometimes because he doesn't think I can handle it. Like that stuff with the Dementors and his parents voices… if he hadn't been completely irrational and mad, I wonder if he would have bothered to tell me about that. It just seems like there's this part of Harry Potter that no one will ever know, not even me, and I'm supposed to be his best friend. 

**_I'm sure he doesn't feel that way, sir. I feel quite sure that you haven't told him every small detail you have confided in these pages, he's probably the same way. We often keep to ourselves many aspects of our thoughts and fears and feelings. As time passes this gap will probably grow smaller, only to grow apart again as you age. No matter how much or little Mr. Potter shares, remember this, if he does not count himself blessed to be able to call you his friend, then he is a fool; any other faults we may find in our friends are overlookable. _**

Ha, I guess your right. It's not always easy being Harry Potter's friend. But he overlooks the fact that I'm clumsy, poor, and short-tempered; so I guess I'm pretty lucky too, huh?

**_That's the spirit my boy. Now, if I'm not mistaken it is rather late and you seem to have a long day. Don't you think you should retire?_**

You know Rupp, you soon an awful lot like me Mum sometimes….

G'nite.


	7. Close Encounters of the Black kind

he was here. 

in my room. 

over my bed. 

with a knife… 

I still can't believe I'm alive…

He may still be in the castle somewhere….

**_Oh please for the love of all that is magical, dear sir… THE PASSWORD!!!!!!_**

**SIR RON **

He was here!

He was in my room!

Standing over my bed!

And that knife!

**_SIR! Please what is happening?!?!_**

I told you! I was almost killed!

**_In your bed, with a knife, I caught that part… but by WHO? What happen, sir?_**

What are you, daft? Who the hell do you think? It's not like the countryside is full of crazed murders trying to break into Hogworts!!!!

**_Well I… _**

BLACK, SIRIUS BLACK!!!!!

**_No! _**

No, you're right I'm just kidding it was the other one. YES it was Black! He broke into our tower and he tried to kill me!!

**_What! But—But why would he do that?!?!? _**

What part of criminally insane do you NOT understand? He was after Harry, okay. How hard is that to figure out? Sirius Black wants to kill Harry Potter, Harry Potter sleeps in the Gryffindor tower, Sirius Black breaks into kill Harry Potter and gets me instead! 

But how is that possible?  How did he get in?  I know you said he made it to the tower door and once before, but one would have thought that after that incident the school would be more prepared, especially with the Dementors shudder…

Neville.  Neville Longbottom.  Silly prat wrote out the whole weeks worth of passwords to the tower and left them laying around!  All Black had to do was read them off 'til he got to today's password.  That stupid painting let him right inside!

Silly child!  Doesn't he realize that people's lives are at stake here?  Doesn't he know— 

Hey!  Lay off Neville, alright?  There's no way he could have known that Black would find that list.  It's not like Neville ever _plans_ on forgetting things.  Besides, I kinda felt sorry for him after McGonagall got ahold of him.  I thought she was gonna curse him on the spot!

And rightly so!  In my day acts of foolishness such as those that put the lives of others in such peril would be dealt with through discipline.  He would learn the gravity of his decisions—

I said lay off!

Yes, sir.  

Dear me… I think I'm still in denial!  Are you alright?

Oh yeah I'm just peachy!  I mean why wouldn't I be?  Oh that's right, I almost forgot… I WAS ALMOST MURDERED IN MY SLEEP!!!  My hands Won't quit shaking, every time the fire pops I nearly jump out of my skin, and if that doesn't get me I think I might just pass out anyway, because my heart won't. stop. pounding! 

I understand that you'd be upset, sir. It's not everyday that someone is fortunate enough to survive an encounter such as this.  But I must say, master Weasley, the way you talk… you do have more such days than the average individual.  If it was possible for a journal to develop gray hairs… 

Are you blaming this on me?!?!

Absolutly not!  I was merely trying to calm the topic with conversation—

Well stop it!  I'm not in the mood for you to calm me down!  Is it something about being dead that keeps you from understanding what it's like to almost be killed?

Sir you are going to help anyone by panicking—

Bloody hell!  Who am I helping?!?!  When I checked, I was the one in mortal danger!

**_I understand that… Sir, one thing still bothers me._**

Only one thing!  Would you like to see my list of the things that bother me right now?!?!

Understandably sir, I meant no offense it's just that one thing bothers me more than most.  How did you escape?  

Escape!  You think I could escape from him?  He's mental!  Ask Peter Pettigrew's mum if there's any escape…

Peter who?  Pettigrew? But still you must have gotten out alive somehow?  What did you do? 

What do you think I did?  I'm not bloody stupid.  I screamed!  You would too if you'd seen what I saw… I DON'T want to think about it!  I mean…!  Do you ….!   I could have…!  He could have…!

Alright, alright, dear boy, calm yourself.  You ARE alive and apparently well— 

You still don't get it do you?  This is no ordinary mass murdering psycho!  This is a… a… What's worse than a mass-murdering psycho?

I wouldn't have the slightest idea sir?

Pettigrew!

Pardon?

Pettigrew!  Let me tell you what Bill told me about Peter Pettigrew.  Then maybe you'll understand.

Well you can try—

Zip it!  Alright, twelve years ago, when Black betrayed Harry's parents, he wasn't counting on Harry defeating You-Know-Who.  So when the Dark Lord fell, Black snapped.  The Potter's other friend, Peter Pettigrew tried to seek out revenge for the betrayal.  You know what happen to him, do you?!?!

No, sir, I haven't the slightest—

Black killed him!  He didn't just kill him; he blew him to bits, literally!  The biggest piece they found of him they send to him mother… in a box.  Do you know what that was?

I shudder to think sire— 

A FINGER.  A single bloody finger, and the Order of Merlin, but that doesn't seem like much when some crazy who you thought was his friend just blew your son to little bits, does it?

No…. sire… it does not.  Very cheap indeed.  I wonder if it's possible for journals to feel ill.  

Oh but that's not all!!!  When he blew Pettigrew to bits, he also took the rest of the street with him.  And you know what he did then?

Do I truly want to know sir? 

HE LAUGHED!  They say he was laughing like a lunatic, after killing thirteen people!  So why should he care to kill me?!?!?  

**_oh… my… _**

Yeah.  Now you get it… HE COULD HAVE DONE THAT TO ME!!!!!

**_I'm sorry I was ever skeptic of the seriousness of the situation.  You're right this man is beyond the bounds of insanity._**

****

Finally!  Something we can agree on!  They're turning the castle on it's end right now… I hope they find him.  If they don't… I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to sleep again…

**_Well, noble sir—_**

Hang on!  McGonagall's coming back!

**~*~*~**

**SIR RON**

He escaped.

**_The madman is on the loose again?_**

'Fraid so.

Don't fear young master, I'm sure they'll catch him…. Eventually.  After this last incident, the Ministry cannot possibly leave any stone unturned, the consequences are becoming far to grave—

Yeah, right.

**_Sir Ron, are you well?  I know that it must be hard to deal with the fact that there will be no retribution this time, but the criminal WILL be punished.  You must have faith._**

Why!  Why should I believe that they'll catch him next time?  They didn't catch him this time, and they didn't catch him the time before.  The man is like a bloody ghost!  He goes wherever he feels.  Who knows what kind of dark magic You-Know-Who taught him!  …Rupert?  What if he comes back?

**_Please, sir, you must not think like that.  He failed to kill you, and was almost caught.  He must know that next time he will not be so lucky to escape.  If there is even a next time.  I'm sure he will be apprehended long before then.  The scoundrel will know better than to threaten your life again, noble, brave, sir._**

Who are you kidding?  We both know what he's after!  Harry.  And because of me, he almost got him too… 

**_Now, now!  Had I hands I think I would be forced to slap you… respectfully… sir._**

What!

**_You did what was necessary.  You did what was natural.  And because of it, he fled.  And yet you speak of yourself as if you were a traitor.  I cannot hear this._**

IT'S TRUE!

**_I fail to see how._**

I… blinked….

**_I'm afraid I don't understand._**

It's something Charlie told me.  When he's working with the dragons… He says he has to always be on his guard; always aware of what going on, he has to see everything and react even before he sees it almost, and that's why he made such a good Seeker.  He once told me the biggest mistake he could make on the job would be to blink, to hesitate; that's when he'd get fried.  I figure being Harry's friend is kinda like working with dragons, you have to always be on guard, you can't blink.  And I did.

**_Master Wea—_**

Shut up and listen!  I hesitated and it could have gotten me killed.  More than that, it could have gotten us all killed.  Harry was right there, not three meters away!  And once he killed Harry, he would have gotten what he wanted.  Then there'd be no stopping him, and who knows how many people he would have taken out before he was done.  He once killed twelve innocent muggles to get to one wizard—

**_I must interject!  You didn't fail.  You didn't hesitate.  You screamed, which was a perfectly natural reaction._**

Yeah, but—

**_No but's.  You screamed and he fled, correct?_**

Yeah, but—

**_And isn't that what you wanted?_**

No, Rupert, I was really hoping that he would stick around and use me as a pincushion.  Yes, I wanted him to run.  But I didn't really think he would.  And you don't understand—

**_No.  You are brave, sir, and no matter—_**

OH, SHUT IT YOU BLOODY GIT!  I'm trying to tell you what happen here!

**_But you already told me—_**

~*~*~

**SIR RON**

**_Well that was completely uncalled for… Not only the slamming, but did you have to throw me?_**

Yes.  You are just like everyone else!  You think you've got me all figured out. "Can't be THAT hard, it's only Ron Weasley, he's rather simple-minded anyway…" Well you're wrong!  You're almost as bad as Hermione, she never listens to me either!  She thinks I'm wrong or that she knows better than I do before I ever open my mouth.  This time people have to listen to me!  I was the only one there!  I was the only one who saw it!  The great Harry Potter doesn't know the story and "the cleverest witch in our year" CAN'T have the answers.  And still, no one believes me!  They won't even hear me out!

**_Oh, dear me…._**

****

I'm sick of it!  Oh, but don't feel too bad Rupert, lemme introduce me to my brother Percy; I'm sure the two of you would get along just fine.  He didn't believe me either, you know.  He thinks I'm just that silly one who comes after Fred and George and gets in trouble all the time.  Black comes after me with a knife and he tells me I'm dreaming and that I need to go to bed!  You should go be his journal, you can _try and tell him how brave and noble I am, but then he'd set you right.  He could go on all day about how I never understand responsibility and I'm always getting into things I shouldn't.  Yeah I like that idea! _

****

**_Sir?  Oh please, sir.  Master Ron, I'm frightfully sorry.  I didn't mean to offend you in any way.  I apologize for my behavior.  It was wrong of me to contradict or interrupt at all.  It's just… well… to be honest, noble sire, I'm a bit afraid…_**

What the bloody hell do YOU have to be afraid of?!?!

**_I fear for you safety, master Weasley.  I fear for it every time you close my covers, every moment that I don't feel your quill scratch across my pages.  The things you've told me, dear child, well… I've never known someone to face a life of such perils with such ease.  There are madmen at your bedside, Dementors at your gates, and a seemingly endless stream of perils winding beneath your feet—_**

Oh, come off it!  It's not quite that bad.  I mean sure this business with Black was nasty but it's not like it happens every day…

**_Exactly!  You take them all of that with a nonchalance I can't even begin to fathom.  It is for that reason that I fail to accept any derogatory words about your young character… even from yourself.  And, perhaps, partly because I fear that each new thing you confide in these pages will be the last of what I can handle before I send myself to a second death by worry._**

****

Good grief, Mum.

**_Well there's no need to call names—_**

****

Argh… Quit it! I 'm not in the mood.  I forgive you, okay?  I'm sorry I got mad at you earlier, kinda. (I promise I'll put Spellotape on that corner later.)  It's just that… For once I feel like I've got something I need to say, and I can't tell anyone here, they'll think I'm mental.  And I'm starting to feel like you don't want to hear it either.

**_Oh but I do sir.  I cannot apologize enough for earlier.  I forgot my real duty to you, and I will try to make up for it.  Let me make amends, help me understand.  Why do you feel as though you have let your friends down?  When, the incident has already passed, and other than being thoroughly shaken, you are all still intact._**

I told you, I blinked.

**_How so?  I was lead to believe you reacted quickly and accordingly to how anyone would in your, unique, situation._**

It wasn't exactly quickly.

**_Beg pardon?_**

I didn't react quickly.  I didn't scream as soon as I saw him.

**_Then what on earth did you do?_**

I stared at him.

**_Excuse me?  You _****stared_ at him?_**

That's right.  Mental ain't it?  Madman in my bed and I just look at him.

**_Not to mention a madman with a knife…_**

Well, I didn't see the knife at first… He was standing down by the foot of my bed and he had curtains all torn down around him, I didn't see the knife.  In the dark I could barely tell I was looking at man.  Even though… even if I'd seen him in the light, I'm still not sure I would have recognized him as a man.  Still, that's no excuse.  I let them down.

Sir… 

What.

Well, please don't get angry, but I still can't construe your actions as a failure on your part.  Perhaps it was just shock that made you hesitate?

No.  It wasn't shock, not really.  It was more like… well… it was his eyes.

His eyes, young master? 

Yeah, his eyes.  I swear, as long as I live I will never forget those eyes… I think I would rather snog with a Dementor than look at that face again.

Oh don't say that, fair sire!  The most terrible fate in the world awaits those who receive the Dementor's Kiss!

What are you talking about?

The mere presence of one of those foul creatures is enough to drive sane men to the ends of their wits, but to kiss one… That is their final blow; that is their last attack.  When a Dementor "kisses" you, they do in fact steal your soul.  Leaving the victim a shallow shell of flesh, from which there is no recovery.  

Oh man… Then the other day… when Harry said… 

What?  What did Mr. Potter say? 

Well the papers said that if the Dementors ever catch Black then that's what they are going to do him.  And Harry made the comment that it was the least that he deserved… I think he understood what it meant but I didn't ask him about it because… well I'm almost afraid to bring up Black to him, after what we found out at Christmas…

Quite understandable.

But why would Harry wish that on anyone?  What Black did was bad and all but… 

You don't think he deserves it? 

Of course I do!  I mean… I think I do.  What he did to Harry's parents, how could he not deserve it?  But still… Rupert, I know they'd probably pack me off to the nut house if anyone heard me say this, but to look at him, to see those eyes… Well I'd almost bet they'd already done it, that those Dementors had already stole his soul.

Master Weasley, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it almost sounds as though you feel sorry for the vile creature.

Feel SORRY for him!  He helped You-Know-Who MURDER my best mate's mum and Dad!  He was a traitor and a spy!  He killed thirteen people, and then LAUGHED about it!  He ripped the Fat Lady to shreds, and do I really need to remind you that he came after ME with a KNIFE!!!!!

I recall all of that quite clearly sir.  I was just making an observation, much like if I was to say that it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself that he's a bad person more than you are trying to convince me—

Are you nuts!!  There's no convincing necessary, he is a bad person, he's the worst kind of human to ever exist.  He's worse than Malfoy (but not by much).  So who cares that for less than half a second I kinda, sorta, a little bit, felt bad for the guy.  It's not like I'm gonna invite him over for tea!  I was probably just still half asleep.  Yeah that's it, what you were saying earlier, about shock, that's what was wrong with me!

I see… I'm sure it was the shock, dear sir.  I wouldn't worry about it too much.  May I ask though, sir, why you think you felt sorry for chap?

I don't know… like I said he had those eyes, you know.  I've never seen anything quite like that, really… empty.  Like I said I would've believed he'd already had that Dementor's…

Kiss.

Yeah, that.  That's a rather sick name for it, don't you think?

Yes.  But I find everything about those demons of the night rather unsettling.  But, please sir, continue.

Oh, right.  Well, like I said he was standing at the foot of my bed.  He was throwing the covers everywhere, like he was expecting to find Harry hidden in my bed sheets or something.  Really he must be truly off his nut or something.

****

What can you expect, my lad, all those years in Azkaban can't be good for one's sanity.

Good point.  So anyway that when I woke up, and then well… He looked at me, and I looked at him, and I was just kinda… frozen.  Really I thought I was dreaming, or at least having one killer nightmare.  It's not impossible, I mean his face is posted everywhere, I could have been imagining it.

Quite possible.

But then I knew I wasn't dreaming those eyes.  Looking at them is like standing near a Dementor, it makes you go cold…

**_Sir?_**

**_Are you still there?_**

Yeah I'm here, I just can't stop thinking about it, gives me the shivers…

Try taking your mind off of it.  Try to forget about his eyes, noble sir, tell me about the rest of him.

That's not much better.  The rest of him fit his eyes, you know.  He looked like a skeleton, really thin and brittle.  But his hair was long, and hanging over his face.  My brother Bill has long hair, but I think he'd go bald before he let it look like that.  It was tangled with all kinds of twigs and leaves in it… And that smell!  You know what he reminded me of?

What's that? 

Have you ever smelled a wet dog?

I remember it vaguely, rather nasty as I recall.  

Exactly!  There used to be one that came round the Burrow all the time, he was nice and all but Dad had to run him off because he was afraid he'd bite one of us.  Hey Rupert, can I ask you something?

But of course! 

How completely bonkers would you think I was if I told you that when were standing there, looking at each other, I would have sworn he looked, almost, well… sorry for me.  How nuts is that?

I can't even begin to imagine… 

I knew I was mental!  But that's when I saw the knife and then… well… 

The screaming? 

Yeah…

Do you feel better, sire, now that you have this off you chest, so to speak? 

Not really.  I still can't figure out why those eyes bother me so much… there's almost something… familiar? about them… 

Sir, I am truly beginning to worry about you… Even beyond what has happen this evening, I am beginning to fear for your health.  First you tell me that you felt sorry for a murderous beast, then that you think he felt sorry for you, and now that you think you might recognize his eyes?!?!  Maybe you should venture to the hospital wing—

No!  I'm not making this up and I don't need to see Pomfrey!  I swear I recognized that look!  I don't know where but I know I did… it looked like… OH BLOODY HELL!!!

What?!?!  What is it?  Sir? Master Ron, please answer me— 

I know where I've seen that look…

Where?  

I'm looking at it right now…

WHAT!!! Is he back?  He can't be! 

Not Black…

Sir, I'm dying here… again!  What is going on? 

Dead… blank… angry… and yet… so… I can't ever describe it…  I seen it before and I didn't even realize it!

Please, sire!  What are you talking about? 

Harry.

What?!?! 

Christmas, after we found out the truth about Black… Harry had that look.  That…

Haunted? 

Exactly!  And now… he's sitting over there, by the window, he was looking right at me, but at the same time… not!!!  Oh, Rupert I can't believe I didn't see it!  Right there in front me!  What's happening to him?

I wish I could explain to you the things that your friend must be experiencing… the wounds of deceit cut to the bone, quite frankly.  The hollow hatred can be consuming.  But I have never heard of anything like this happening to one so young—

He shouldn't have to at all!  Harry's a good person!  He doesn't deserve this!

We've been through this before, young master.  The cruelties of fate know no boundaries, nor age, nor character.  Once again all I can tell you is to be there for him—

Like I was this time?  Harry'd be better often relying on Neville!

Please, don't be so hard on yourself, sir, you have been a good and loyal friend— 

Sirius Black was right there!  Looking for Harry!  I had a chance to do something, to protect him, and he never even crosses my mind!  I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to him, and at the first test… I failed… 

Nonsense!  Is he not alive?  Did the perpetrator not flee?  How can you say you're a failure?

He's not right Ruppert, and I missed it… I'm gonna go take care of a mate.  

But, Master Weasley, you were the one who life was threaten— 

~*~*~


	8. Unanswered Questions

**SIR RON**

Rupp, you there?  I have had the most wicked day.

**_Oh dear not another travesty…_**

What?

**_You said there was wickedness afoot—_**

Oh man… Rupert, "wicked" is a good thing.

**_Pardon?_**

Wicked.  You know like "That was wicked flying" or "What a wicked move"?

**_Oh, a new type of vernacular… I think I am beginning to catch on, sir.  Please continue._**

I don't know about you sometimes mate.  

Anyway, it's been a great day!  It's like I'm some sort of celebrity or something!

**_I take it the events of the other night have not spoiled you mood, dear sir._**

That's just it.  Everybody wants to know about it!  We didn't go to sleep last night, of course, but when we got down to breakfast everyone was looking at us, but they weren't; they were looking at ME!

**_And this is a good thing?_**

Well, yeah!  I mean it's not the first time the entire Great Hall has stared at me, like that time Mum sent me a howler, talk about embarrassing… But usually they're all looking at Harry and I just happen to be there.  Not this time!  Today they were looking at me, and only me!  Everybody wanted to know the story.  Rupp it was great!  I've never felt so… so…

**_Appreciated?_**

Yeah.  Something like that.  I know I shouldn't be happy about it.  I mean it's not like I wanted to wake up and find Black or anything.  So I shouldn't feel guilty if I'm enjoying it, should I?

**_Well… No sir, I shouldn't think so.  It's not as if you allowed him in to the castle.  As for this Longbottom fellow—_**

Rupert.  I told you.  Leave Neville alone.  I do feel kind of guilty about him, though.  McGonagall won't even let him have the passwords anymore, or go on Hogsmeade visits. They're really giving him a bad time of it.

**_For your sake, noble master, I shall keep my comments to myself._**

Thanks, I think.  It's odd you know, when people come up to us in the hall and they want to talk to me, not Harry.  Half the time it's like they don't even see him.  I kind of feel guilty, about being happy that no one notices Harry, but he doesn't seem to mind so I don't feel quite so bad.  There is one thing that still bothers me though…

**_Only one thing?_**

Are you making fun of me?

**_Never, sire._**

Humm… I'm going to ignore that.  

**_Please do.  What was the one thing that was bothering you?_**

The more times I tell the story of what happen last night, the more confused I get.  Why would he take off like that?

**_I thought we decided that he was unbalanced?_**

Yea I was thinking about that… Truth is that he wasn't mental; he seemed to be perfectly sane—

**_After twelve years in that hell-forsaken place!  Impossible.  _**

I know.  That's what I thought too… But, well, I was in the kitchen this summer… cleaning up after a little bit of a… accident…  Anyhow, I heard Dad in the living room talking to Mr. Diggory, he also works at the Ministry, Diggory said that when Fudge went to see Black in prison he was just as normal as you or I (other than the fact that you're a deceased spirit living in a book).  I thought it was just Ministry gossip before… but then when we heard it straight from Fudge himself over Christmas...

**_Pardon my interruption, but who is this Fudge chap?  And what would he have been doing in Azkaban?_**

Cornelius Fudge.  He's the Minister of Magic.  Apparently he has to do check-ups there every so often.  He was the one we over-heard at Christmas talking about Harry's Mum and Dad.  He the one who spilled the beans about Black being Harry's godfather.  I almost wish he hadn't of said anything…

**_Sir Ron, it is futile to wish for things that can not be.  I understand that your concern for Mr. Potter makes you want to harbor him from the ugly facts of life… but sometimes this too shall be for the best._**

Do you honestly think that talking like a stuffy old coot makes you sound smarter?

**_I, well, it's—_**

Just kidding Rupp, don't take it so hard.  I know I can undo what Harry knows, it's just that when its stuff like that… there's a reason no one told him before.

**_Technically speaking, no one told him this time.  It seems it was your magnetism for unruliness that, how did you say it, "spilled the beans"._**

Hey!  Harry deserved to go to Hogsmeade.  The Dementors have checked the town several times, Black couldn't have been there.  Besides even he's not stupid enough to attack in broad daylight, not with everyone in the country looking for him.  It was perfectly safe!  Besides no one saw him and nothing happen to him, he was just fine.  It's not out fault that they had to talk about it in a public place.

**_I was simply referring to the fact that you and your friends had listened in… I said nothing about Mr. Potter actually being on the excursion._**

Oh…

**_Master Weasley, is there something you aren't telling me.  _**

Well, no… not exactly.  It's not any big deal really… It's just that… 

**_Yes…_**

Like I said nothing happen to him, he was perfectly safe.  He just needed a little help getting out of the castle… So he, sort of, well he had to… he snuck out. 

**_You.  Snuck.  Him.  Out!  Don't you think that's a bit dangerous?  I must admit I had previously wondered why the faculty would allow a young boy to wander about when his life was in such mortal peril.  I had no idea you were involved in this deceit, young Weasley._**

****

I didn't do it!  My brothers did!

**_Masters Fred and George I presume._**

Yeah… how'd you know that?

**_Well other than Master Percy they are the only brothers you mentioned having at school with you… and it hardly seemed like something the elder Weasley would approve of._**

That's an understatement.  I think if Perce even knew about it he'd turn Harry into Dumbledore himself.  He doesn't care about anything anymore besides how shinny his badge is, and how big his head is.  Anyway I was telling you what Fudge said—

**_Actually, no sir.  You were about to explain to me exactly why you would approve of allowing your brother to put you friend in such a dangerous situation._**

You sure?  I thought we were talking about Fudge?

**_Positive, sire, you can read back if—_**

Are you sure you wouldn't want to hear about Fudge instead?

**_In due time, but I think we must stick to priorities, Sir Ron.  I think a full explanation is in order._**

Priorities!  And it's not a priority to hear about the _UN-madness of Sirius Black?_

**_I highly doubt it's possible that Black could be as sane as you claim.  But if you wish for me to believe that then you are going to have help me understand the motivation behind your espionage._**

I didn't do it!  I told you that.  It was—

**_Fred and George.  Yes I recall that, but you don't seem too bothered by it either, and I'm having a hard time comprehending your approval of the situation._**

****

You aren't going to leave me alone until I tell you about this, are you?

**_I'm afraid not, sire. _**

Fine, but remember I had nothing to do with it.  By the time we found out about it, Harry was already there.  

**_Understood, please continue._**

Alright… Well it seems that the culprits, Fred and George, had this wicked map.  And it showed all the tunnels and secret passages in the castle, including several that lead out to the village.

**_And they didn't turn it in?!?!  Sirius Black could have been using one of those to get in!  By keeping it they are putting everyone's life in danger!_**

You sound just like Hermione sometimes, you know that?  Would you quit being so dramatic and let me finish?  You were the one who wanted to hear this story.

**_Fine, young master, please continue.  But be notified that I do not like the sound of this._**

When you do ever?  Look, Harry explained it all already.  There are seven tunnels leading out of the castle.  Filch knows about four of them, so they are of course going to be guarded.  Of the other three: One is caved in, one right under the Whomping Willow, and the last one leads right to the cellar of Honeydukes.  Harry used the one under Honeydukes, and there's no way Black can use that one.  He wouldn't dare so his face in there in the day, and at night there are Dementors prowling the streets so I doubt he's be stupid enough to go then either.  Even if he did try, the owners live right above the shop; they'd heard him break in.  So you see, it's perfectly safe.

**_What about the other one?_**

Which one? They one under the Whomping Willow?

**_Yes, what if he was using that one?_**

Then Fudge was wrong and he really is off his nut.  That tree is exactly what it sounds like, a willow that Whomps!  It broke my wand and nearly our necks last year when me and Harry flew my Dad's car into it.

****

**_When you what?_**

We flew my Dad's car into it.  

**_I shall resist the urge to ask the myriad of questions that statement brings up.  We have more important matters to attend to._**

Huh?

**_Nevermind.  _**

Truth is that it's next to impossible that Black even knows about that passage.  Even if he didn't know what kind of tree it was and went snooping… trust me one Whomp from that Willow and you will never go back!

**_I see that there is no arguing with you tonight, young sir.  If you feel that your map is secure and that Mr. Potter is not unduly risking his life on these… outings, then I suppose there is nothing I can do to stop you.  Please only note a word of caution._**

****

We'll be careful.  Besides the next Hogsmeade visit isn't for a couple of weeks, they'll probably have caught Black by then.

**_Really?  The last time we spoke on this issue you were quite sure to the contrary.  Why the sudden change of heart?_**

They're really cracking down around here since last night.  This morning Professor Flitwick was teaching the doors to recognize his face and everything.

**_That, at least, is a comfort.  _**

****

Well I'm glad that you feel better.  I know how much the threat of a murderer would bother those that are already dead.

**_Low blow, Ronald Weasley.  _**

**_It is your safety that I fear for—_**

Really, I would think if you were afraid for me you would have wanted to know why Black is especially dangerous; because he's sane.

**_Back to that are we?  I told you already the prospects of someone living in Azkaban, if one can really call that living, for twelve years, and walking out sane is a near impossibility._**

Then Black should enter the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw, because the odds sure seem to be in his favor.

**_… Now who is mocking who?_**

Are ready to hear me out?

**_Always._**

You could have fooled me.  Like I was TRYING to say, Fudge says that when we he went to do his inspection of Azkaban Black was perfectly normal.  So normal, in fact, that he asked for Fudge's old paper; said he missed doing the cross-word puzzle.  And he was the most heavily guarded prisoner in the place to boot.  

**_Oh, that is rather unsettling._**

No kidding.  The more I think about it the more I can't figure it out.  Before it was easy to say that Black was off when he ran away, that's what we wanted to believe.

**_We?_**

Yeah, we.  You're the one who said he couldn't have walked out of that place sane.

**_I still can't fathom how he walked out of that place at all._**

You and everyone else in the Ministry.  But the fact that he did escape only proves that he wasn't mental.  Dad said that the Dementors drain people of their powers if they're in there long enough.  The amount of time he was in there… my Dad's plugs should have had more powers than he did.  And yet he still managed to pull off some serious Dark magic to get himself out.

**_So if he truly did have his wits about him, why would he have been so skittish when you screamed?_**

Good question, did you come up with that all by yourself?  That's what I've been trying to figure out.  Harry thinks it might have been because he knew that once I screamed he would have had to kill every single person in Gryffindor tower to escape, possibly everyone in the castle.  Maybe he knew that once everyone had woken up his only choice was to flee or fight and the odds wouldn't really have been in his favor in a fair fight.

**_I doubt a monster like that even knows how to fight fair._**

True.  Well, speaking of Harry, he should be getting back from practice soon.

**_Isn't it a bit late for Qudditch training sir?_**

You'd think wouldn't you?  Wood thinks we've got a shot at the Quidditch Cup so he's been working the team into the ground.  It'll all be worth it though if we can flatten Slytherin this year.  Last time—

Oh, here they come.  I gotta go, I told Harry we'd work on Divination together tonight.

Later Rupert.

**_Later?_**

~*~*~

****


	9. Aggervation and Apologies?

February 15

**SIR RON**

I really don't care what anybody says.  I don't have to talk to her.  I won't talk to her until she admits she's wrong; and I don't expect that anytime before… oh, never.  And I swear if she so much as breathes a word about Harry this weekend… I may just toss all of her homework in the common room fire.  That would be just enough to put her over the edge.

**_I doubt I would be going out on a limb if I were to guess that we are speaking about Miss Granger._**

Ding, ding, give the man a prize.  If that bucktoothed little… I can't even think of a word bad enough for her.  She wants to tell on Harry if he's goes to Hogsmeade next weekend.  Can you believe her?

**_How horrible that she wouldn't want Mr. Potter risking his life for friviolties…_**

DO NOT side with her in this!

**_Me?  Side against you, young master?  Never!_**

Yeah right!  We're going to be careful.  Harry's taking his invisibility cloak and everything, so there's nothing to worry about.

**_Mr. Potter owns an invisibility cloak?!?!_**

Yeah… so?  It was his Dad's, he left with Dumbledore just before he died.  And Dumbledore gave it back to him at Christmas our first year.

**_Groan  A pair of thirteen year old wizards in possession of such a powerful object as an Invisibility cloak.  Especially considering your pension for deviance… _**

So now it's deviance?  Before you said I was brave and noble.

**_Oh, you are, sire.  You most certainly are.  But one can only ponder how many of the dangerous situations you have eluded to, that would have been avoided if you hadn't had the opportunity to go about unseen._**

So we've snuck out a time or two, what of it?  That cloak has come in dead useful sometimes.

**_How so?_**

Well… lots of ways.  But I'm not going to go into with you.  You'd probably just lecture me or something.

**_I would never dream of doing any such thing!_**

I'll believe that the day Malfoy starts asking me for love advice.

**_Well that wasn't very complimentary… _**

You think?

**_Master Weasley you seem to be in an exceptionally irriatable mood this evening—_**

You're the one who called me a deviant!

**_Even before that, noble sire._**

So now I'm noble again?

**_Does this have anything to do with Miss Granger?_**

****

No.  Well… maybe, just a little.  

**_I see…_**

There's nothing to see!  Why does everyone take her side in everything?!?! 

**_I wasn't—_**

Don't forget, she's the one that had Harry's broom stripped down by the Professors.

**_But upon return it worked good as new, did it not?_**

Which just goes to prove that there was no point in turning it in the first place!  And she still hasn't apologized for letting her beast eat Scabbers!

**_I'm afraid if I say anything I may very well be the next to accrue your wrath…_**

What?  No, go ahead say it!  You want to tell me that I'm being a prat too!  I've already heard it from Hagrid, thank you very much.

**_Who?_**

Give me a break!  Hagrid!  He's really hard to miss. 

**_I believe you are forgetting, young sir, that the only eyes I possess are yours.  And thus far you have mentioned no one by that name._**

Oh… yeah, well… Sorry 'bout that.  Hagrid is our professor of Care of Magical Creatures.

**_And even he noticed the tension between you and Miss Granger?_**

APPARENTLY, that little git has been running to him all term, blubbering like a baby and telling Hagrid that we're treating her unfairly.  So he invited me and Harry down for tea and gave us a lecture on the value of friendship.

**_You take tea with your professors?  Despite the verbal reprimand, I must admit, sir, that I'm impressed.  It's not often that one finds one so young as yourself building such intimate relationships with one's superiors.  _**

Are you trying to suck up to me?

**_I'm not sure I understand you…_**

Apple-polisher.

**_I—_**

Hagrid's different.  He's not just another one of the professors that Hermione's always treating like divine beings.  Hagrid also the grounds-keeper here and our friend.  In fact he just became a Professor this year, because me and Harry cleared his name.  You'd think he'd be greatful, but no, he's taking her side too.

**_Master Ron I can see this topic is upsetting you, so why don't you just let it all out.  What is it exactly that bothers you so much about Miss Granger?_**

Don't you listen!

**_I'm afraid listening is the only thing I can do._**

I already told you if she'd just admit that that cat of her was an evil murdering beast then I'd be glad to forgive her.

**_Really?_****__**

Yeah, is that so hard to understand.  If Miss Perfect could just admit she was wrong ONCE, then I'd be fine with her.

**_That's all it would take?  An apology?_**

Yes!

**_Interesting…_**

What's that supposed to mean?  What's so interesting?

**_I just find it peculiar that in the entire time I have known you, you have had hardly two decent words to say about the lass.  And yet…_**

What!  'And yet', what?

**_And yet you maintain that all would be forgiven with two simple words, "I Apologize."_**

So?  And those words aren't simple at all, not for her!  I think she'd rather go on a strict diet of flobberworms than have to admit she was wrong.  

**_Perhaps._****_  But even so, the fact that you are so prepared to dole out forgiveness does imply perhaps a desire on your part to make amends…_**

I… IF… You just… 

**_Sir?_****__**

Gimme a sec.

**_Are you alright?_**

I'm not sure.

**_Was it something I said?_**

Isn't it always.

Hermione is… Well, she's Hermione.  Just like I'm "the tall guy next to Harry Potter" or "that other Weasley", she's "the smart one".  Actually I've heard her called a few other things by Lavender and Parvarti, but those hardly need mentioning.  I love just hanging out with Harry and all, but… yeah, things are a little different without her.  If she doesn't apologize soon, who am I going to tease for the rest of the term?

**_You torment her?_**

No, it's just teasing, and she knows it's just teasing.  I mean it's not like I let other people tease her, because they don't mean it like I do.  

**_Exactly what is the difference, sire.  _**

Well… like before Christmas.  Snape called her a know-it-all, right in front of the whole class, that's not teasing he's not aloud to say things like that to her.  He's a professor, he's not supposed to, but since when does that stop him.  Somebody had to stick up for her.

**_What do you mean "someone had to stick up for her"?  Sire, you didn't—_**

I just told him that if he didn't want anyone to answer he shouldn't have asked the question.  She looked like she was going to rip her arm out of her socket if she raised it any higher.

**_But to a professor!_**

Yeah, well I ended up serving a dentention for that one…

**_Although I won't pretend to condone speaking back to a professor—_**

Aww, Rupert, please DON'T start with me.

**_Allow me to finish.  While I can't condone that behavior, it was still a very valiant effort on your part to stick up of the lady's honor._**

****

Oh… Thanks.  She's my friend—I mean she _was my friend._

WAIT A MINUTE!  I see what you're trying to do here!

**_Me?  I don't know what you're talking about._**

You're trying to make me convince me to forgive her!

**_I had no such intentions!_**

Yes you did—do!  Oh, no that's not going to work.  Not on me!  I will not forgive her until she apologizes!  End of story!

**_Sir, I—_**

~*~*~

SIR RON

Ruppert?

**_……_**

You do think she's going to apologize… eventually?  Don't you?

**_I'm sure, she will come to her senses, sooner than later._**

Yeah… you're probably right…

Thanks Rupert.

**_Not at all sir._****__**

Goodnight, Rupert.

**_Goodnight, noble master._**

~*~*~


End file.
